Baltimore Man Tawon Boyd Dies After Cops Beat Him

Tawon Boyd, a 21-year-old Baltimoreman, died last week after an encounter with city police after his girlfriend called 911 for medical assistance. Witnesses say they saw Boyd frantically call for help while trying to enter a pair of police cruisers ahead of the matter becoming violent.

The Baltimore Sun initially reported that Boyd’s girlfriend placed the 911 call to address the situation. It appears that Boyd was acting erratically last Sunday (Sept. 18) which prompted the emergency call. When police arrived at the Middle River apartment early that morning, they found Boyd behaving strangely and banging on doors. Boyd’s grandmother says the cops were aggressive with Boyd and she and the girlfriend tried to intervene but was reportedly told to step back or risk arrest.

Police said Boyd resisted arrest. They said three officers who restrained Boyd were injured. One wrote in a police report that he punched Boyd twice because Boyd was hanging onto him.

The officers said they were able to finally restrain Boyd by holding him down with their arms and body weight.

Medics were called and administered something to Boyd, but the treatment was redacted in the police report, and police officials said medical privacy laws prevented them from releasing it.

Boyd calmed down, police said, and an officer asked a medic to check his pulse. Boyd was still breathing and had a heartbeat as he was loaded into an ambulance, police said.

“Mr. Boyd was in need of medical attention, and the police responded with violence,” said Latoya Francis-Williams, the family’s attorney. “The police beat him into intensive care, and now he’s no longer with us.”

Boyd succumbed to his injuries last Wednesday. News of Boyd’s death went largely unnoticed due to the police-related deaths of Charlotte’s Keith Scott and Tulsa’s Terence Crutcher.